Los Angeles, California (Top40 Charts/ Connection official website) The Connection, an independent, stripped down rock 'n roll band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is pleased to announce its selection by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to perform at the 11th annual "It's Only Rock and Roll"
Spring Benefit. The event, which has been dubbed Cleveland's "Party of the Year," will be held on Saturday, May 10th at Cleveland's historic Public Hall, with proceeds going to support the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's educational activities.
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The Connection has been engaged to play its original, British Invasion-influenced, rock 'n roll/power pop songs for an exclusive audience of 1,000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum VIPS between 6PM and 8PM.
Steven Van Zandt, who will be inducted this April into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a co-founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has championed The Connection to a nationwide audience on his
Sirius XM radio station, Underground Garage, and to a world-wide audience on his syndicated terrestrial radio show,
Little Steven's Underground Garage. Van Zandt named four of the band's driving, hook and harmony-laden songs "The Coolest Song In The World" in a recent 13-month period, and has put two other Connection rockers into heavy rotation.
The Underground Garage's air staff--which includes Andrew Loog Oldham, who also will be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April as the original manager of The Rolling Stones--named The Connection's current LP, "Let It Rock," "The Coolest Album Of The Month" for last August.
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Let It Rock" contains twelve original Marino/Palmer compositions and features the breakneck-paced vinyl single, "Crawling From The Wreckage Of A Saturday Night," whose title pays homage to British pub rocker Dave Edmunds and his 1979 Graham Parker-penned hit, "Crawling From The Wreckage." In July 2013, "Crawling From The Wreckage Of A Saturday Night" became The Connection's third "Coolest Song In The World," prompting Van Zandt to comment, "Terrific production…I look forward to hearing the rest of the album…Cool stuff..." Just two months later, on
September 1st, Van Zandt announced The Connection's fourth "Coolest Song In The World" award for "Girls In This Town," a Rolling Stones-inspired Marino/Palmer original, also from "Let It Rock." "The Connection gets it," said Van Zandt.
Goldmine Magazine placed "
Let It Rock" on its list of the Top 20 Albums of 2013, stating, "A helping of punk energy, plenty of pop songwriting smarts, and a whole lotta rock and roll attitude sums up these New Hampshire boys…"
Brad Marino, The Connection's lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist, commented, "We're really grateful to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is a dream come true. One reviewer said we breathe new life into the sounds of the British Invasion. That's the music we really love. To get this honor, I guess we must be doing something right." Geoff Palmer, lead guitarist and Marino's songwriting partner, said, "We're a young, indie band. It's awesome we've been chosen for this huge gig. We're gonna bring it all to Cleveland. We're really gonna let it rip."
On the evening of May 9th, the night before the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance, The Connection will rock the house from 9:30 PM to 11:00 PM at The Brothers Lounge, Cleveland's premiere rock and roll concert nightclub.
